Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 25 December 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

 6 months to
25 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 337 343 301
Rank change year-on-year +6 -42 +2
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 267 218 327
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 0.64% 0.75%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.79% 0.69% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 178 149 235
10th Percentile £150 £142 £131
25th Percentile £155 £181 £141
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £215 £200
Median % change year-on-year -18.60% +7.50% -
75th Percentile £238 £238 £229
90th Percentile £275 £269 £275
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -16.67% +5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 16 15
10th Percentile £16.24 - £17.68
25th Percentile £19.54 £22.50 £18.50
Median hourly rate £20.18 £24.18 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.54% +24.00% +2.55%
75th Percentile £22.03 £27.94 £20.88
90th Percentile £31.40 £30.68 £23.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.05 £24.18 £19.75
% change year-on-year -17.10% +22.43% +7.48%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 33,803 31,437 40,517
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.09% 92.75% 93.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,362 19,311 27,163
10th Percentile £294 £300 £283
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £616 £638 £640
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,992 980 1,517
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.50 £14.86
25th Percentile £18.19 £21.03 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.20 £33.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.64% -26.67% +45.77%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.00 £73.75 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £46.18
% change year-on-year -22.62% -29.62% +84.72%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 25 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 25 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 25 December 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England +5 242 £190 -13.24% 43
UK excluding London -1 191 £175 -16.67% 38
London +1 68 £180 -16.86% 10
North of England -34 46 £175 -21.35% 9
Midlands -18 35 £175 -14.63% 5
East of England -4 34 £195 -7.14% 9
South West -4 32 £238 +5.56% 6
South East -42 29 £173 -16.63% 7
North West -22 24 £183 -13.10% 5
East Midlands -5 21 £175 -44.66% 1
West Midlands -25 14 £175 -6.54% 4
North East +2 12 £175 -
Wales +6 11 £160 -27.27%
Yorkshire -39 10 £165 -26.67% 4
Work from Home -10 8 £163 -33.67% 3
Scotland -5 6 £130 -7.14% 2
Northern Ireland -11 3 £200 +31.15%

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 25 December 2025, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 155 (58.05%) Windows
2 118 (44.19%) Microsoft 365
3 111 (41.57%) Microsoft
4 98 (36.70%) Customer Service
5 94 (35.21%) Active Directory
6 88 (32.96%) Security Cleared
7 87 (32.58%) SC Cleared
8 86 (32.21%) Windows 10
9 62 (23.22%) Microsoft Office
10 53 (19.85%) ITIL
11 46 (17.23%) Mac OS
12 42 (15.73%) SAP
13 41 (15.36%) Business Intelligence
13 41 (15.36%) Digital Marketing
13 41 (15.36%) Programme Management
14 39 (14.61%) Android
14 39 (14.61%) Azure
15 38 (14.23%) Cisco
15 38 (14.23%) Microsoft Intune
16 35 (13.11%) Microsoft Exchange
17 34 (12.73%) Dell
17 34 (12.73%) Problem-Solving
17 34 (12.73%) SCCM
17 34 (12.73%) SLA
18 33 (12.36%) HP
18 33 (12.36%) Wireless
19 31 (11.61%) Service Delivery
19 31 (11.61%) Service Management
20 29 (10.86%) Migration
21 27 (10.11%) Apple

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 35 (13.11%) Microsoft Exchange
2 26 (9.74%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.37%) Exchange Server 2010
3 1 (0.37%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 62 (23.22%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (6.37%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (5.62%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.75%) assyst
2 1 (0.37%) Eikon
2 1 (0.37%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.37%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 118 (44.19%) Microsoft 365
2 39 (14.61%) Azure
3 16 (5.99%) OneDrive
4 9 (3.37%) Entra ID
5 1 (0.37%) Google Workspace
5 1 (0.37%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 33 (12.36%) Wireless
2 20 (7.49%) VPN
3 15 (5.62%) DNS
4 13 (4.87%) PABX
5 12 (4.49%) DHCP
6 9 (3.37%) Skype
6 9 (3.37%) TCP/IP
7 8 (3.00%) Cisco IOS
8 5 (1.87%) Structured Cabling
9 4 (1.50%) Firewall
9 4 (1.50%) LAN
10 3 (1.12%) Softphone
10 3 (1.12%) VLAN
10 3 (1.12%) WAN
11 2 (0.75%) Telepresence
11 2 (0.75%) Unified Communications
11 2 (0.75%) Wi-Fi
11 2 (0.75%) WLAN
12 1 (0.37%) IP Telephony
12 1 (0.37%) Network Security
Development Applications
1 2 (0.75%) JIRA
General
1 128 (47.94%) Social Skills
2 84 (31.46%) Finance
3 49 (18.35%) Public Sector
4 44 (16.48%) Telecoms
5 42 (15.73%) Manufacturing
6 41 (15.36%) Electronics
6 41 (15.36%) Marketing
7 30 (11.24%) Analytical Skills
8 12 (4.49%) Banking
9 9 (3.37%) Front Office
9 9 (3.37%) Retail
10 6 (2.25%) Aerospace
10 6 (2.25%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.87%) Law
12 4 (1.50%) Organisational Skills
13 3 (1.12%) Investment Banking
13 3 (1.12%) Legal
13 3 (1.12%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.37%) Financial Institution
14 1 (0.37%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 30 (11.24%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (9.36%) Data Centre
3 24 (8.99%) Smartphone
4 14 (5.24%) iPad
4 14 (5.24%) iPhone
5 13 (4.87%) Onboarding
6 10 (3.75%) Mobile App
7 8 (3.00%) Management Information System
8 7 (2.62%) Video Conferencing
9 5 (1.87%) Hedge funds
10 4 (1.50%) Driving Licence
10 4 (1.50%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.50%) Virtual Team
11 3 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
12 2 (0.75%) Tandem
13 1 (0.37%) Blackberry
13 1 (0.37%) BYOD
13 1 (0.37%) Fat Client
13 1 (0.37%) Legacy Systems
13 1 (0.37%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 155 (58.05%) Windows
2 86 (32.21%) Windows 10
3 46 (17.23%) Mac OS
4 39 (14.61%) Android
5 17 (6.37%) Apple iOS
6 13 (4.87%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.75%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.75%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.37%) Linux
8 1 (0.37%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (36.70%) Customer Service
2 53 (19.85%) ITIL
3 41 (15.36%) Business Intelligence
3 41 (15.36%) Digital Marketing
3 41 (15.36%) Programme Management
4 34 (12.73%) Problem-Solving
5 31 (11.61%) Service Delivery
5 31 (11.61%) Service Management
6 29 (10.86%) Migration
7 27 (10.11%) Time Management
8 24 (8.99%) Workflow
9 22 (8.24%) ITSM
10 20 (7.49%) Inventory Management
11 16 (5.99%) Mobile Device Management
11 16 (5.99%) Patch Management
11 16 (5.99%) Workflow Management
12 14 (5.24%) Continuous Improvement
12 14 (5.24%) Incident Management
13 13 (4.87%) Logistics
14 11 (4.12%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (5.99%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 88 (32.96%) Security Cleared
2 87 (32.58%) SC Cleared
3 19 (7.12%) Degree
4 15 (5.62%) ITIL Certification
5 10 (3.75%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (2.25%) A+ Certification
7 4 (1.50%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (1.50%) DBS Check
8 3 (1.12%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.37%) Dell Certification
10 1 (0.37%) MCP
10 1 (0.37%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (12.73%) SLA
2 7 (2.62%) GDPR
2 7 (2.62%) QA
3 1 (0.37%) COBIT
System Software
1 94 (35.21%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.24%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.50%) Firmware
4 3 (1.12%) BitLocker
5 1 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.37%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.37%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 38 (14.23%) Microsoft Intune
2 34 (12.73%) SCCM
Vendors
1 111 (41.57%) Microsoft
2 42 (15.73%) SAP
3 38 (14.23%) Cisco
4 34 (12.73%) Dell
5 33 (12.36%) HP
6 27 (10.11%) Apple
7 25 (9.36%) ServiceNow
8 10 (3.75%) McAfee
9 9 (3.37%) Bloomberg
10 7 (2.62%) Starlink
11 3 (1.12%) Citrix
11 3 (1.12%) Remedy
11 3 (1.12%) VMware
12 2 (0.75%) Reuters
13 1 (0.37%) Altiris
13 1 (0.37%) Google
13 1 (0.37%) Lotus
13 1 (0.37%) Oracle
13 1 (0.37%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.37%) Wyse
45 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide